The Who have announced they’ll be moving on in 2020 with more tour dates, not quite ready to close the books on their acclaimed Moving On! tour, which paired Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend with local symphony orchestras across North America and was hailed by critics as a once-in-a-lifetime rock experience. Along with a series of rescheduled shows announced earlier in the month, the band has expanded their 2020 itinerary to include a show on April 21 in Hollywood, FL (Hard Rock Live), April 23 in Cincinnati, OH (BB&T Arena at Northern Kentucky University), and a series of six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV kicking off on May 5 and running to May 16. Tickets will be available at Ticketmaster.

The Who’s April 23rd show in Cincinnati will have added historical significance as it will be the first time the band will be performing in the city since eleven lives were tragically lost as the concert crowd waited to get into The Who’s concert on December 3, 1979. The historic show was announced last night by local Cincinnati TV station WCPO after airing a documentary special commemorating the 40th anniversary of the tragedy - The Who: The Night That Changed Rock. Pete and Roger were both interviewed for the special program along with long-time manager Bill Curbishley. The Who will make a donation from the concert to the P.E.M. Memorial, the organization that was founded to honor friends and classmates that lost their lives at the December 3, 1979 concert, providing college scholarships for students at Finneytown High School.

As always, the upcoming shows will feature The Who’s full live band comprised of guitarist/backup singer Simon Townshend, keyboardist Loren Gold, bassist Jon Button, drummer Zak Starkey and backing vocals by Billy Nicholls along with orchestra conductor Keith Levenson, lead violinist Katie Jacoby and lead cellist Audrey Snyder, passionately delivering The Who’s many classics.

Local symphonies will again be joining The Who for the 2020 shows, putting their indelible stamp on the music’s timelessness in support of Roger and Pete’s trademark emotional power.

$1 from each ticket sold for the Moving On! tour will benefit Teen Cancer America.

2020 US dates:

April
21 - Hard Rock Live - Hollywood, FL
23 - BB&T Arena Northern Kentucky University - Highland Heights, KY
27 - American Airlines Center - Dallas, TX (Rescheduled)
30 - Toyota Center - Houston, TX (Rescheduled)

May
2 - Pepsi Center - Denver, CO (Rescheduled)
5 - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV
7 - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV
9 - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV
12 - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV
14 - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV
16 - The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV

The Who have one of the greatest rock legacies in music history, they’re one of the all-time great live bands, have sold over 100 million records world including nine US and ten UK top ten albums and 14 UK top ten singles in a career spanning six decades.

Now 55 years after they made their first recordings, The Who are back with their first new album in thirteen years, entitled WHO, due for release this Friday, December 6, via Polydor Records. Pre-order WHO here.

The eleven-track album was mostly recorded in London and Los Angeles during spring and summer 2019 and was co-produced by Pete Townshend and D. Sardy (who has worked with Noel Gallagher, Oasis, LCD Soundsystem, Gorillaz) with vocal production by Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Roger Daltrey, Wilko Johnson).

Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend are joined on the album by long-time Who drummer Zak Starkey and bassist Pino Palladino along with contributions from Simon Townshend, Benmont Tench, Carla Azar, Joey Waronker and Gordon Giltrap.

The artwork for WHO (see below) was unveiled last night in New York at the opening of the brand new eight-storey Pace contemporary art gallery where the band also performed a short acoustic set. The album cover has been created by famed Pop artist, Sir Peter Blake who first met the band in 1964 at a taping of the legendary TV show Ready Steady Go! Sir Peter designed and contributed a painting for the sleeve of The Who’s album Face Dances in 1981.

The songs on WHO cover a myriad of subjects including the Grenfell Tower fire, musical theft, spirituality, reincarnation, the power of memory and ‘an old rock star that has lost his marbles’. Singer Roger Daltrey rates it amongst their strongest “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia in 1973, Pete hasn’t lost it, he’s still a fabulous songwriter, and he’s still got that cutting edge.”

Pete Townshend: “This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today. I made new home studio demos of all these songs in the summer of 2018 using a wide collection of instruments old and new. We started recording as The Who in March 2019, and have finished now in late August just in time to make some vinyl... maybe even some cassettes... ready for release in November.”

Tracklisting:

"All This Music Must Fade"
"Ball And Chain"
"I Don’t Wanna Get Wise"
"Detour"
"Beads On One String"
"Hero Ground Zero"
"Street Song"
"I’ll Be Back"
"Break The News"
"Rockin’ In Rage"
"She Rocked My World"

"I Don’t Wanna Get Wise":

"All This Music Must Fade":

"Ball And Chain":

(Photo - Rick Guest / NEC Group)